Monday's Three Things Finance

Three things I learned about finances this past week:

Most everyone will be getting their stimulus check in just months. And the stores know it. And they want you to spend it at their store. So you need to have a plan. What do you want to do with your money? Do you want to put it towards debt? Do you want to put it into your emergency fund? Do you want to put it in your housing fund? Or do you want to spend it? And if so, how much do you want to spend? You need to be prepared for all the great deals that will be appearing in May/June possibly even July. Remember it is not a good deal if you don't need it. BE PREPARED to avoid temptation!

I also wanted to mention that if there is a B1G1Free offer, and you have a coupon off purchase of two, and they will not accept it at the register, you can take the time to goto the customer service and ask if they can honor the coupon, they just might! I got a $1 off (my store doubles up to $1) even though the coupon would not scan at the register! They just gave it to me!!! JUST FOR ASKING!!! :)

I have also learned that cash can burn a fast hole in my pocket if it is not specifically budgeted for. The blow account money is literally BLOWN away as soon as I walk into Goodwill. I need to leave that at home OR stay out of Goodwill. I do know that shopping WITH my beloved when we go into Goodwill really helps curb my spending.

Three links to help you with your finances:

Little Steps: 100 Great Tips For Saving Money For Those Just Getting Started - great even for those not just getting started.

Even Better Ways To Spend Less

Six Steps to Curb Compulsive Spending - I admit that I am a really bad compulsive spender. not on big ticket items, but on bargains and thrift store finds. Sadly though, I am like him and now purging my house of stuff - stuff that I sadly bought compulsively that I never used.

Three financial links for articles I have read recently:

I have read a LOT. Please check out my Stumble Upon page for more great links!!Three things I learned about finances this past week:

Most everyone will be getting their stimulus check in just months. And the stores know it. And they want you to spend it at their store. So you need to have a plan. What do you want to do with your money? Do you want to put it towards debt? Do you want to put it into your emergency fund? Do you want to put it in your housing fund? Or do you want to spend it? And if so, how much do you want to spend? You need to be prepared for all the great deals that will be appearing in May/June possibly even July. Remember it is not a good deal if you don't need it. BE PREPARED to avoid temptation!

I also wanted to mention that if there is a B1G1Free offer, and you have a coupon off purchase of two, and they will not accept it at the register, you can take the time to goto the customer service and ask if they can honor the coupon, they just might! I got a $1 off (my store doubles up to $1) even though the coupon would not scan at the register! They just gave it to me!!! JUST FOR ASKING!!! :)

I have also learned that cash can burn a fast hole in my pocket if it is not specifically budgeted for. The blow account money is literally BLOWN away as soon as I walk into Goodwill. I need to leave that at home OR stay out of Goodwill. I do know that shopping WITH my beloved when we go into Goodwill really helps curb my spending.

Three links to help you with your finances:

Little Steps: 100 Great Tips For Saving Money For Those Just Getting Started - great even for those not just getting started.

Even Better Ways To Spend Less

Six Steps to Curb Compulsive Spending - I admit that I am a really bad compulsive spender. not on big ticket items, but on bargains and thrift store finds. Sadly though, I am like him and now purging my house of stuff - stuff that I sadly bought compulsively that I never used.

Three financial links for articles I have read recently:

I have read a LOT. Please check out my Stumble Upon page for more great links!! AND CHECK OUT THE CONTEST MENTIONED BELOW!

Biggest Money Mistake - CONTEST!!!

Over at Millionare Money Habits there is a contest for your biggest money mistake. I encourage you to go check it out. Even if you don't enter, read through the comments and save yourself some heartache. Here is my story. May it save someone else from going through the same thing.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Our biggest money mistake happened over ten years ago, and we are still paying for it.

We were newly married and had just moved to Colorado after being Texans for all our growing up years. We received a letter in the mail asking us to come out and get free money to spend at a casino. My husband and I are not big gamblers, but we sometimes like to go and spend $20 each, keeping all our earnings, and usually break even. We would also get an elaborate dinner just for going. We thought why not.

We went, and it was requiring us to look at land to get the stuff. No problem, right? WRONG. They used words like "mining claim" and "soon to be ski resort" and got us hooked. We thought we were doing well by talking them down a few thousand off their asking price.

We paid full price out of our savings account - $12,000. After three years (when they said to keep a hold of the land for profit and that ski resort was coming), we tried to sell the land. No realtor would even help us out because they knew it would be a waste of time. One realtor even asked if this was part of a family plot. I asked why, and she said all the land in that area was bought by people with the same or similar last names. :(

It is nearly 10 years later, and we are still having to pay taxes on land that cannot be developed (we knew nothing about land or terms, and turns out that a street cannot even be made to the plot of land we have - something about public access). So not only have we lost $12,000 from our savings account, but we have lost $1000 on taxes, and who knows how much longer we will have to pay on land we cannot get rid of. The company closed shortly after selling all the plots. And the people who sold us the land, no longer have their realtor's license.

Lessons learned:
*Don't EVER respond to ANYTHING you get in the mail. It is a rip-off! Even if they offer you free stuff STAY AWAY!
*Don't EVER make a BIG purchase without sleeping on it. We now always pray and wait until the next day, even if it means missing out on a sale. If they really want to sell it, they will sell it to us the next day (or two) at the same sale price. If not, we take our money to someone who will.
*Don't EVER buy land without a) a realtor or b)full knowledge of EVERY TERM in the contract you are signing.
*Keep your feet firmly planted and don't get taken away with the THOUGHT of making money. We were assured that a ski-resort was going in near where we bought out plot. They fabricated it and the newspaper clippings.
*Don't EVER buy ANYTHING from a company unless you know all you can about them. This was a fly by night company that came in, set up, ripped-off a lot of people, then closed up shop and moved on.

If anyone knows how to help us out of this, feel free to contact me via my blog. Thanks. And prayerfully, you will learn from my story and not make the same mistake.

Wives and Daughters

I recently heard about this book, and saw reviews of the movie, on Homeliving Helper.
Part 1 Part 2a Part 2b Part 3 Part 4

I was able to find FREE audio of this wonderful book! If you like Jane Austen, you will like this book.

Goto Librivox - Wives and Daughters
If you are lucky enough to have iTunes, you can click on the SUBSCRIBE IN iTUNES button and it will take you to the iTunes and start downloading the first chapter. Click GET ALL to get every chapter!! If you do not have iTunes, you can still download the mp3 files, you just have to do it one by one (unless you are lucky enough to use Firefox, you can get the DOWNLOAD THEM ALL extension (free), and then you just click once and it downloads them all).

Update

I will be doing all of JJ's journey and health issues on a different blog. If you are interested, the link is at the end of the post below.

BTW - If you have kid, you need to check out Annie's Attic for the free pattern today! Remember, it changes DAILY, so this really neat puzzle book pattern is only available for free today.

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program...

I know, today is supposed to be about finance. But today is about my son. In fact, everyday for the past few weeks have been about my son JJ.

He has sadly begun ruminating again. I cannot express how my heart aches at the thought of this. Mostly because everything out there puts the blame on the relationship between mother and child for it happening. Mostly because there is such a high mortality rate. And mostly because he is killing himself and I don't understand why. I have given my life to this child. I have been separated from my family for this child. I have gone weeks without sleep for this child. And I would do it all again in a heartbeat for my child whom God has blessed us with. But I don't know why this is happening again.

I know that might sound strange to some. How can a child who is so sick that you are killing yourself for be a blessing? God says ALL children are a blessing. And if you met JJ, you would know that life would be incomplete and sorrowful without him.

None of the doctors in our city know anything about rumination syndrome. And even the doctor who was assigned JJ in the hospital knows nothing about it. In fact, I highly doubt she believes that JJ has rumination syndrome. I am going to be starting another blog about JJ and his journey and will link back in this post to the new blog. But I will be taking off a week from blogging on this blog to do so.

Not to mention there are only a handful of doctors in the COUNTRY that treat rumination syndrome. Thankfully, one lives only an hour's drive away (Teri, we might have more opportunity to meet now than you think). Our insurance does not cover it, which means a lot of petitions to the insurance company.

Your prayers are appreciated.

UPDATED - Link to the rumination site:
http://onemothersjourney.blogspot.com/

My Savior LIVES

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this song! (all is powerful, but especially the chorus!)


HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!!!

Jesus Is With Me....

This is a great video to show your kids too.

Celebrating Easter

Instead of candy this year, we are going to do promises. After all, our God is a God of promises and He fulfilled a most AWESOME promise when Jesus rose from the dead!

So a few eggs will have some candy, but most of them will have paper written with promises, such as:

• New book (from Goodwill of course, my kids are always in the book section when we goto Goodwill!)
  
• Your choice of tooth brush. (I know we will end up with a LOT of princess toothbrushes on this one.)
  
• Alone time with Mommy.
  
• Alone time with Daddy.
  
• Trip to the Dollar Store.
  
• Bag of craft supplies (this has some cut up ribbons and stickers and paper to make cards).
  
• Extra computer time.
  
• Bath in Mommy's bathtub (why Mommy's tub is special I don't know :D )
  
• A flower from the store (carnations are less than $1).
  

(Can you help us think of anymore?)

We also do Resurrection Rolls from scratch.

We also the the Passion video series from Nest Family Entertainment. Nest does the best job of staying accurate to Scripture and fills in the movie with other historical events. It is VERY accurate and we are very pleased. I think this year we are also going to add watching The Gospel of John to the mix. It is a little more detailed than the Jesus movie and it goes verse by verse through the Bible.

Well, we will be off from the computer for the whole of Easter weekend, so I hope you have a wonderful and blessed Easter!!

And if you replied to my prayer post, know that I am praying for you.

When $1 Isn't Just A Dollar

As you know, my beloved and I have been doing a major overhaul on our finances and how we spend. I have finally accepted my role in the part of finances and am looking for better deals at the grocery store as well as being more frugal and investing.

I realize that a major problem I had with spending was I was rationalizing my spending with "Oh it's only a dollar."

But it is not only a dollar. Let's say I invest that dollar at 8% interest never adding to it. Over a period of 20 years (when beloved is likely to retire based on age), that one dollar would be $5. Doesn't seem like much, does it.

But let's say that every month for 20 years, I add that dollar - that just a dollar - to my investing account (a total of $12 a year). At the end of 20 years I would have $577! :)

So I have learned to see my $1 not just as a dollar anymore, but as $577. And am I really willing to part with $577 for that candy bar to satisfy my chocolate craving? I DON'T THINK SO! :)

Tuesday Link Up - Health

The Bulk Herb Store has podcasts.

I knew this, but many people may not. When you use hot water, it actually pulls lead from the pipes. So you do not want to drink or cook with hot water. Here is a New York Times article on lead in hot water

Crocs are Dangerous on Escalators. And it is not on the part where you get off, but on the side while going up!

Ten Budget Beauty Projects You Can Make has some GREAT ideas I never would have thought of (like custom scented hand sanitizer).

How Can I Pray For You?

Inspired by Bargain Shopper Lady, and by all your generous comments and lifting of us up in prayer, I want to bless you. Please leave a comment and let me know how to pray for you. All comments are moderated, so if you do not want the comment posted, just mention that when you comment. I am not the best prayer warrior, but I promise to lift every request made on this post up in prayer each day for the whole week, until and including Easter Sunday.

Monday's Three Things Finance

First, thanks to everyone for your prayers. They are felt and appreciated.
Now onto something fun! FINANCES!!! :)

Three things I learned about finances this past week:

If you happen to go shopping on any day but Sunday and a man is giving out free papers trying to get someone to sign up, ask if he is going to be there on Sunday. I was able to get a free paper on Sunday just by coming back. :) More coupons!

I have never really been into coupons. I thought they were really a waste of time. But learning about stockpiling has taught me a lot about the importance of coupons. Saving every insert will allow you to get the best price. Wait for the sale on the item then use the coupon to get even more off.

Every month, grocery stores focus on certain items, and those items are usually on sale. For example, last month (Feb) I was reading that March was freezer month. I must admit, I doubted it. But sure enough, shortly after March began, almost the entire frozen section was on sale for 25% off (and STILL IS!). They are having great sales on ice creams. And even several of the organic products in the freezer section are on sale (even fruit!). :) Check out the stockpiling section at Organic Grocery Deals to learn about this stuff EVERY month!! (Be sure to use my username lvg4him when signing up please - it's FREE)

Three links to help you with your finances:

5 Ways to Save 90% on Designer Kid's Clothing. I have mentioned before how expensive the thrift stores are getting. This article sums up nicely how to get it new from the store for the same price or less! :)

Being Frugal has a GREAT post on how to shop frugally. And here is one listing an online shopper's toolbox.

Get More Bang For Your Coupon Buck GREAT tips here.

Three financial links for articles I have read recently:

Teaching Children About Money. This has links for every age. From 2-5 all the way up to 30's and 40's and beyond.

And if that wasn't enough, the put together a list of the Top 20 Web 2.0 sites for frugal living.

Clever Way To Make Coupons Worthwhile - WOW! This is a good tip!!!

In Sickness and For Worse

I guess you could say we just got the phone call that spun us into this part of our wedding vows.

Of course we have been through a lot of difficult things recently...
JJ's health issues, almost losing him, a month apart while I was in the hospital with him
EE has been having some behavioral issues that are difficult to deal with
Issues with Brian's side of the family

And now it is all about Brian - me beloved.

He has been having back pain, and after months, he finally agreed to see a doctor. After an x-ray, it was discovered he had degenerative disk disease.

At first we were scared. I mean two very bad words (degenerative and disease) were in the same diagnosis. But we did our resaerch (like any good wifey would) and actually had hope. A lot of people were able to reverse it through taking care of their back - without pain medication and without surgery.

But the doctor wanted to do an MRI to know the extent of the damage. And we got the results back today (doctor just got back today from vacation).

My beloved's back is bad. I mean really bad. Every bad things that can go wrong with a back was mentioned as they looked over the results of his MRI.

Our life has changed dramatically since his back pain. He is no longer able to help with the kids (not even able to pick up his 22 month old son). He is not able to run around and play with us like he used to. And in the evenings, I spend my time serving him rather than cleaning up.

And honestly I don't mind serving him. I love it. It is what I was created for. I just MISS my beloved. I miss him tossing the baby in the air. I miss him spinning the girls around. I miss him chasing the girls (and me). I miss his smile - which seems to wane more and more each day as the pain become unbearable.

I have no idea what to do and am drawn to my knees once again, this time on behalf of my beloved. I have been here many time before, usually on behalf of my children. Only once before on behalf of Brian, and that was when he was out of a job for 3 months and was beginning to worry. (Just to clarify, I do pray for my husband and my kids, but rarely am I on my face before God in desperation for them). Your prayers are appreciated.

My head is spinning right now and I feel hopeless. I know that is not of God. And I know as a helpmeet, I need to bring faith into this marriage during this difficult time and not fear.

Grocery Challenge

Ok. So as most of you know, we used to spend $1000 a month (can you say credit card debt?) on groceries (that includes cleaning supplies, toiletries and diapers). I have been able to cut that down to about $600 a month (we are still going just a bit over) for our family of 6. How did I do that?

Firstly, we stopped using the credit card and started using cash. It is so easy, even with a list and a budget, to spend more on groceries when you are able to use your credit card. Not using the credit card and only having a certain amount of cash makes you fully aware of every penny you are spending. My 8yr old daughter is now in charge of the calculator and adds up everything while we are shopping.

Secondly, I found bargains. Ask around with your frugal friends. I was able to find TWO discount stores here in our area that sells even organics for half price the regular store is selling them for. And when I did goto my regular grocery store, I started looking in the deal bins first, as something I might need might be there for half price. I also scanned the perimeter of the store (produce and dairy and meats) for mark downs (i.e. manager's specials). I was able to get organic meat for half off, organic eggs for just over half off, and organic produce for much much less. We also signed up for a Costco membership. I went through and wrote prices down in a price book (my first one!). I can already tell that we will be saving more than our membership back (even with my using coupons). :) More about that later. I got plugged in with those in my area who knew where to find good deals on healthy food.

Thirdly, I became friends with the produce guy and the butcher. They are so helpful in letting you know the days things are usually marked down, as well as be willing to mark it down for you, even if it is a day early! :) Especially the produce - because it needs to move so fast, I have gotten organics marked down because they were too ripe.

Fourth, I got into finding out deals. The best site I have found for this (do I sound like a broken record yet?) is Organic Grocery Deals. They list deals in stores like Walmart and Target as well as your local grocery store (Kroger or Albertson's for example). You can search for coupons, even TRADE coupons (or ask for them, some one might be willing to give them to you, it never hurts to ask). :) Again, getting plugged in REALLY helped.

So I have gone from $1000, down to $600 (which honestly isn't bad, it is about $3.33 per person per day). But this month I am hoping to get it down to under $400 a month. So this month, I am going to focus on stockpiling. Learning all I can about it and practicing it. Of course, I know that stockpiling really does take some time to get it going, and I might have to wait a bit to see the benefits from what I start this month. But I am excited!

Last week I created a menu based on what I have in my pantry (Part 1 and Part 2). When I went to the bargain store, I stocked up on some items we use almost daily (sardines, tomatoes, cereal, bread). So everything we bought so far this month has been stockpiling! YEAH! :) It worked really well! This week, I have done the same thing. :)

What A Waste

I am so wasteful. I was reading on Down To Earth about how when her bedsheets get a little thin, instead of throwing them out, she will patch it up and get another two years out of it. It made me think of just how very wasteful I am.

I really do need to get in a better mindset of seeing everything as valuable. When something is broken, I need to fix it or find another way to use it before just junking it.

I was watching The Story of Stuff and was very convicted at how much garbage I produce. I have something that is broken (because it was made to break), and instead of finding another use for it (like maybe I can cut it up and use it for rags, or make pinafores to protect the children's play clothes), I toss it because I can't donate it and no one would buy it at a garage sale.

I have learned by being on my local freecycle group (goto the yahoo groups and search for your city and the word free and you will be surprised at what is given away), that even things that are broken and torn, people will grab up. I have to wonder WHAT they are going to do with a broken/torn _____. But sure enough, there is someone with the right mindset out there that grabs it and I have no doubt finds another use for what was previously a useless item.

What are some things that you reuse and find other purposes for?

Tuesday Link Up - a little bit of everything

As if Firefox was not cool enough with all the FREE plugins you can use. Here is a plug in for the Webster's 1828 dictionary!! WOOHOO!!

Goto this site
Scroll down till you see FIREFOX PLUGIN on the left hand side.
Click on the I to install it.
Now up next to where the URL is (and where you can search google), you now have an M in a blue box. That is the search for the 1828 Webster's Dictionary!! Type in whatever word you want to search. To get back to the google search, click on the M in the blue box and you will see you can select the G for google to search google again! :)

Overwhelmed and Distracted - I wish I had the gift to say so much with so few words! I too have times where I want to "dis" everything. :) A very good read and reminder.

Being married for over 12 years, my husband has seen everything from me clipping my toenails to giving birth. I was recently reading what your husband wishes he could tell you, and I realized that part of the reason the "romance" may be gone, is because I have been a little too open and need to be a little more discrete to keep that romance alive. It is pretty hard to see your wife as beautiful when she is contorting herself to clip that toe nail juuuuuuuusssst right. :) A really good read.

Monday's Three Things Finance

Three things I learned about finances this past week:

I did it. I FINALLY started a price book. I have not looked up how to do it. I have not even looked at someone else's price book. I know what I want to accomplish and how I want to start shopping. I want to start stockpiling. I want to create a menu based on what I have and buy things when they are a GREAT price.

So I am writing down what things I buy, the price per ounce. Then I am going to put everything in a list. I am only doing this for three stores because I do NOT want to drive all around. Here are my stores to shop a (from closet to farthest):

King Soopers (so close I can walk to it)
Super Target (I could walk if I wanted to, but I would rather drive than carry home all those groceries)
Costco (a little bit of a drive, but I usually go to stores near it anyway)
Bargain Grocery Store (40 minute drive away, but I have to get close to it twice a month with JJ's physical therapy - cannot price book here because they never have the same thing twice, it is kinda like Overstock.com, but for groceries)

---

A budget does not do you any good unless you stick to it. At the end of the month, you wonder where your money went and why you don't have that extra bit to pay towards your snowball. And one should not look at a budget as something to confine you. Rather, look at it like you are telling your money WHERE to go and WHAT to do. Just like if you want an orderly household, each person has a certain responsibility for helping to maintain the house. So it is with money. Each PENNY (yes, you must account for every penny) is told where to go and how it is to be used. :) Much more freeing!

---

It is really important to find out what works and motivates YOU. What works for someone might not work for you. And remember that as you learn and grow, you might change your mind. THAT IS OK! I know that my way of thinking about grocery shopping has totally changed. And now when I read articles that USED to encourage me (about creating a list, then shopping), I am not nearly as motivated and encouraged as when I read about stockpiling. :)

Three links to help you with your finances:

How Haggling Taught Me About Life

How Much Does Turning Off The Light Really Save? I know Mythbusters actaully did a show on this.

7 Easy Steps to saving $1000 in 2008. Step One of Dave Ramsey's Finanical Peace is to save $1000 in an emergency fund. Read about how we did number two on this list (without reading the list first LOL!>

Three financial links for articles I have read recently:

Everything You Ever Really Needed To Know About Personal Finance On The Back Of Five Business Cards

Opting out of the money economy

The Importance Of Delayed Gratification this is a REALLY good read about HOW to do it RIGHT! WOW!!!!!

You Are One Step Closer To Losing Your Parental Rights.

I am sure that many of you have heard by now that parental rights in CA have been stripped away. It is now basically illegal to homeschool in CA (unless you have a teaching certificate).

Whether you homeschool or not, this is just one step in the direction of removing parental rights from ALL parents (homeschooling or not).

PLEASE take time to sign a petition put together by Homeschool Legal Defense Association.

Sign the petition

Make sure that you sign, your spouse signs, your parents and friends sign. (Remember your spouse is one signature and you are another.)

First California.... next could be your state. Now is NOT the time to be passive. YOU can make a difference.

Brian's MRI and Tidbits

Thanks for the prayers. It went well. I was worried that he might get claustrophobic, but he did fine. Now we just have to wait for the results.

-=-=-=-=-
I forgot to include on our Feb 2008 Update about our electric bill. It went down $80 from last month! :) Now it is true, that about now, with a few more warmer days in the mix, we do see a slight drop in our electric bill. But in the month of Feb, we are still usually in the $200's (our utility bill includes electric, gas, water and waste water). We are now very close to $180!! How are we doing it? We keep the thermostat constantly at 60F. This is 8 degrees below what they recommend. We have extra blankets on all the beds. And during the day, we just make sure to wear layers. We let the sun light in during the day, and close the shades at night to keep that heat in. And the children rarely complain. When they do, it is usually because they are wearing their summer clothes. :)

-=-=-=-=-

EE: Momma, when I grow up I want to have 20 kids!
A little while later:
EE: Momma, what is five 20's?
Momma: 100.
EE: That's how many kids I want to have. And I will read them the Bible in the morning and in the evening and in the afternoon and ...welll... just all the time. Just Bible, Bible, Bible, Bible, Bible.

-=-=-=-=-

Because our church teaches verse by verse, sometimes we end up talking about the birth of Christ when it is not Christmas (and vice versa, we end up not talking about the birth of Christ at Christmas).

So, we are sitting in the sanctuary as a family and the pastor asks "How many wise men were there?" And sweet, precious EE says in a loud, so proud of myself voice "THREE!"

Of course that drew quite a few chuckles from the members sitting close enough to hear.

But of course the pastor pointed out that we really do not know how many there were. While there were three GIFTS, there could have been wise men numbering two or three of four or ... well, you get the idea. :)

All this to say that the children ARE listening during service! And they can understand! :) She was drawing at the time and I really had no idea she was even listening. :)

-=-=-=-=-
And on a very sad note, Mike Huckabee has gracefully withdrawn from the race. Shortly before his withdrawal, still fighting for the Republican nomination, he appeared on Saturday Night Live. This was hillarious! (video below)

Please Pray - Brian's MRI

Brian's MRI is later today. Prayers that he will be OK and that the test will run smoothly and not have to be done again or take very long, and prayers that the MRI will show the doctors exactly what they need to see are appreciated.

A Drop In My Finacial Evolution

It is amazing the things you think of when you start "pinching pennies." The dry bread that I normally would throw away becomes croutons. The ziploc baggie that I would throw away because it was used once to hold bread is saved to hold bread again someday. The yarn that I bought just because it was on sale comes out from hiding to become dishcloths and coasters and hotpads!

I am amazed at myself. I thought I was being thrifty. I prided myself on good bargains. And yet, I found that I liked the thrill of the bargain so much that I was wasting money by buying things we didn't need.

"I ask myself if I would still want it (even if i couldn’t afford it) at full price. If not, then its probably not something that I will really use or enjoy as much as I want the deal. That helps me a LOT lately with weeding down what I bring home!" Reclaiming the Home

WOW!!! DO I want the item or do I want the deal?

And because I was SO FRUGAL in every other area, when it came to buying groceries, I bought what I wanted, when I wanted, never really looking at the bargain bin except MAYBE for brownies. I mean, really, who pays $3 for a bag of dry crusty bread (i.e. croutons)? LOL!!! I did, but not anymore.

Now I look for those things called MANAGER'S SPECIALS. You know the eggs that are marked down because they are going to go bad in a few days and stuff like that. I am learning about things I can freeze to use later (like did you know you could freeze butter?!?!!) and buying those at HUGE markdowns. But again, having only so much cash to pay for groceries and ONLY that (no more bringing out that credit card just because I want something) has really helped make me much more aware not only of what I am buying, but where my money is going. Not just at the grocery store, but in every store.

Shopping Bag Swap

Man, I almost missed out on this because I do not get around to reading one of my favorite blogs (Down To Earth) since she changed from a full feed read to a partial. :(

But nevertheless, JUST IN TIME, I noticed she is having a Reuseable Shopping Bag Swap!!! Sign up TODAY as they close soon (today/tomorrow, not sure about the time difference between here and Australia).

Be sure to sign up (and say if you are only able to ship in the US or if you are willing to ship internationally). Her post (and comments) have some links to free patterns, and there are even some links to fabric shopping bag tutorials on my blog, one using an old T-shirt!.

OH WHAT FUN!!! :)

Tuesday Link Up - it's a baragin!

If you LOVE to shop, you will LOVE Retail Me Not. There are coupon codes for just about any store (Safeway, Papa John's, etc.).

Now if you are like me, you usually spend up to an hour or two shopping for coupon codes, and if you are lucky enough to find one, it usually does not work.

Retail Me Not has a rating system which rates the success of the coupon code!

If you are blessed enough to own a Mac (instead of a PC), there is a RetailMeNot widget! Makes it quick and easy to access the site.

There is a Firefox extension for RetailMeNot.com. If you do not have Firefox as your browser ... WHY NOT?!?!?! It is the best! LOL!! It is a free download and has all these cool FREE extensions. Including the one for Retail Me Not.

HT: Wise Bread - be sure to check out the comments for other coupon sites!

Feb 2008 Update

Saved money on gas. I buy my groceries at King Soopers. I make sure to use my member card every time I go in. When you get $100 worth of grocery points (which I always end up getting) you get ten cents off per gallon! Our car requires the middle grade (uck!), so I this month I ended up getting middle grade for low grade price! :) We also stayed home a lot. So I only had to fill up twice this month. :) I was able to fill up each time for under $50. And because we have been driving less, I only had to fill up once! :)

Got $301 check from our bank for our 1% cash back on our credit card. That means we spend over $30,100 last year. :( And we have nothing to show for it. Double :( :(

BUT, that means an extra $301 to go towards our VISA payment, which we have now, PRAISE THE LORD, completely paid off!!! :) This is including the finance charges.

Also, it turns out that I have credit at two of the doctors we see. Since I do not visit the doctor often, that is money that could be gaining interest! Sadly, on one account at my doctor, the money has been in there for over 3 years! So, we have $80 coming back to us. Which funny enough will be just enough to cover co-pays for all the children's physical's this year. LOL!!!

With all that I have been learning about groceries and couponing and manager's specials, I was finally able to stay at $600 for the month!! Next month I am going to try for $400! :)

Because I am addicted to thrift shopping, I have limited the amount of time I go into one. I went in only twice. Once was when the entire store was 50% off (happens once a month), and once because I was going through withdrawl and needed to be out of the house anyway. I was really good and did not buy things I did not need (even though there were a lot of WANTS).

And we cut our electric bill by $80 dollars!!! All in all since the beginning of the year we have cut $110!! :) Even with the gas prices HIGHER, our bill is over $100 LOWER than it was this last year!!!



SUMMARY:
We paid off our VISA!!!!! We still however are paying off our second mortgage.

We cut our grocery bill by $400 a month from what it used to be. We are hoping to get it down even more (see below).

By calling around and finding out where we had extra unclaimed money we will be getting $80 back in the next few weeks. :)

Goals for next month:
Spend $400 or LESS on groceries TOTAL ($200 less a month than what I have spent the last two months). Whatever the difference is between $400 and what I spend will go into a GARDENING and STOCKPILING fund. This fund will be used to buy gardening supplies (setting up our garden, heriloom seeds, worm farm, etc.) to grow our own food as well as canning supplies and a deep freeze for stockpiling the food we make. POSSIBLY hook up with other gardeners to barter what I grow with what they grow.
Great read.
2008 grocery prices rising.

I also want to have less trash. I was reading about a guy being sued by his city because he does not have trash pick up. He does most cooking from scratch, and everything else is either recycled (which he drive to his local recycle center) or composted. He was burning his excess of leaves (which is what caused a neighbor to let the city know he was not having trash removal service). But it made me think. The more trash I have, the more money I am spending (not just on trash service, but the more trash a product leaves behind, the more I prolly spent on it than I should of). :)

Sell more stuff on Craigslist/ebay.

Monday's Three Things Finance

Three things I learned about finances this past week:

When you are investing, maxing out your ROTH IRA, or paying extra on your mortgage, it is better to pay at the beginning of the year in one large lump sum than to pay a little bit throughout the year. You will actually get a better return and be sure to invest all that you intend to. And imagine if you had that money in a high yield money market account while saving up for that large lump sum? You could put all that earnings in interest toward the principal too! :) Did not make sense to me at first either, but there are sites out there that explain it better than I can. It also gets the power of compound interest working for you immediately.

There are a LOT of banks out there (online and otherwise) that give out GREAT rates for savings accounts. Right now, our bank is giving 0.8& BUT ING Direct is giving out 3.2, and Zion's Bank is giving out 3.8. I have learned that it is OK to shop around for a bank that can provide a better interest rate and earn you MORE money on your money!

I have also learned that when you are shopping around, not to just go with the best rate. A lot of the best rate banks also come with a LOT of problems. ING Direct is investing in a company which is a little iffy and loves to close your account with no notice until a week later (google it). The one with the highest interest rate was very difficult to get into and they kept opening a closed account because someone tried to cash an old check. It pays not only to shop rates, but find out what other people are saying about the bank you are about to entrust with your money.

Three links to help you with your finances:

Pay extra principal in lump sum to save There are other sites out there (other than this link) with similar articles about investing and paying large lumps at the beginning of the year into those too.
HT: CFO: Chief Family Officer

Good, Better, Best Money Saving Ideas

Personal Finance Videos There is one from Dave Ramsey on there as well as a really good series by Warren Buffet.

Three financial links for articles I have read recently:

7 Things Men Wish Women Knew About Money - this is good stuff ladies.

Quality Early Retirement Resources has a great list of books which I have just put on our to read list.

A Dollar Saved Is Two Dollars Earned